Putter Fitting

“Tour players care more about putting and their putter than the normal player, do you know why? They love money.”

Curtis Strange

More than 44% of our shots in a round of golf come with the putter. Golfers don’t think anything about dropping $400 on a driver, and now most even know how important it is to get fit.

But when it comes to a new putter, couple practice strokes, eye it, possibly half a dozen putts on the practice green and “off the rack” and in the bag it goes.

Let me share some valuable putter information with you.

LENGTH, LIE, LOFT, FACE BALANCE, WEIGHT, GRIP SIZE

LENGTH: 35” is standard, but we find more and more custom fits are short of standard, and this has an affect on LIE (but more on that later). Custom fit length is crucial. Length of the shaft if proper will encourage you to get into a good posture. Proper posture allows for a lack of tension in your neck, back, shoulders and arms. The length of the putter can also get your eyes into the optimum position.

LIE: This is the relationship between the center of the shaft and the sole of putter. Lie (as is the case with all clubs) directly influences the line the ball is hit on. Too upright and the ball goes left, too flat and the ball goes right (for right handed golfers, think opposite for leftys). Lies are affected by your set up (for good or bad). We will use lie angle adjustments along with shaft length to get a student into a posture in which they will perform best.

LOFT: “YES” of course putters have loft. 3-4 degrees is industry standard. Loft assures our putts of being on top if the green, yet without getting airborne, so our putts roll smoothly without bouncing. This is crucial to keeping the putt on line, once it starts bouncing the ball has a higher percentage of bouncing off line. Address position, and position both at set up and impact all play an important role in determining loft for a golfer. We have fit as little as 1 degree and as much as 8 degrees.

FACE BALANCE: Toe down, mid-hang, and face balance. These are determined by the players stroke: strong arc players would be more consistent with toe down, slight arc strokes work better with a mid-hang and a straight back and straight through putter will fair better with a face balance. Your stroke can be determined during the Fitting process.

HEAD WEIGHT: Options for putter weight are now available. While personal feel is a major part of this, so too, is the speed of the greens you regularly play, faster greens usually have heavier and slower greens favor lighter weights. Average putter head weights have traditionally been between 320-400 grams and we now have more options than ever.

GRIP SIZE: Dramatic changes just in the last 5 years, mostly due to Super Stroke are dominating putters these days at all levels; PGA, LPGA, Champions Tours, college, amateurs. The larger grips contribute to less hands involved with the stroke and more arms and shoulders, that’s a good thing. Preference can be identified during the fitting process.

Custom Fit the most used club in the bag …..or off the rack? What are you going to do?

Golfers buy their putter, the club used more than any other in the bag, based on looks or popularity. We encourage you to get a putter that is fit to you. A properly fit putter will make you a better putter. We all know there are many types of putters available. How can you decide what is right for you? It certainly can get confusing!